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Using TRIZ to Create an Internet Address for the “GENERATOR”
Website
By: Nikolay Shpakovsky and Elena Novitskaja
triztrainer@nm.ru
It is very important that a new site should be based on a new
attractive idea. It is necessary to devise such an idea, to find or create
interesting and well-illustrated materials and to put them on the site; to give
your site a short, but concise and catchy name.
How shall we choose a name for an Internet project? The name
should be short, one-word, if possible, and easy-to-remember both visually and
by ear. Easy-to-remember is a name which is a little bit unexpected and
paradoxical as regards the site content, but which does not fully coincide with
it. It should be euphonic for ear and graphically expressive (for creating a
logotype). It is to be wished that this word be associated with some vivid
image. If the project is realized in different languages, then the name should
be universal for all the languages. There are many various requirements,
sometimes even alternative.
The mission of our site is to promote inventive activities
and to generate new ideas. That is why we have chosen the name “GENERATOR”.
But this is not enough. It is necessary to select and
register the domain name for the site address. It would be better if the domain
name fully coincided with that of the site, in our case it is “generator.***.
How shall we fill the first part of the domain name?
Unfortunately, good domains are often occupied. This is just what happened to
our “GENERATOR”. The ***.com zone headed the list of our
preferences. But the adequate address generator.com was occupied. We
tried other popular zones (***.org, ***.net, ***.info). The result was
the same.
So we had to try our fortune in the Russian zone of Internet.
To tell the truth, using national domains was the last thing we intended to do.
You may ask why. The thing is that our site is bilingual. The main function of
the site’s domain name is to be easy-to-remember. The site address must include
at least two parts - the name itself and the domain zone. The first part is
unique and is not easy to memorize. If the name of the domain zone also sounds
strange, additional difficulties arise while memorizing the domain name. That
is, by choosing the ***.ru zone we make the process of memorizing even more
complicated for a user of the English version of our site. But those were
needless fears - the domain name generator.ru had already been occupied.
What shall we do? We decided to modify the name. But how?
In choosing the name we considered the version “Generator
of solutions”, then the second part was rejected because the name was too
long. And why not to add “-s” (generator-s.com) thus implying the full
name? It is quite acceptable for the English version, but for the Russian one it
is just an unnecessary make-weight.
And suppose we are writing a full form:
generatorsolutions.com? Rather lengthy. Let us try just to change the number by
adding “s” without a hyphen. Generators.com: occupied.
Generators.org: occupied. Generators.net: occupied.
At that point we ceased our efforts as regards the domain
zone and bethought ourselves. We were obviously using the trial and error
method. Choosing a domain name for a site is about the average PROBLEM. We have
a good methodology for solving such problems so why not to use it in this case
taking advantage of the “Christmas
Tree” algorithm?
The starting condition is turned into a concept model of the
problem: an easy-to-memorize site address is an address that is 100%
adequate to the site name. We cannot use such an address. Modifications of the
site name are accidental for a user, so they are not easy to memorize. How to
choose an easy-to-memorize address?
What resources are available? Letters of the Roman alphabet,
Arabic numerals, some punctuation marks, and special symbols.
Ideal Final Result: Modifying the name makes its easier
to memorize as compared with an adequate name.
Let us formulate the contradiction:
Changing the parameter “Form” (the name’s form)
worsens the parameter “Reliability” (reliability of
memorizing).
The Altshuller’s table of resolving contradictions gives four
recommendations: principles 24, 2, 40, 39.
24 - The principle “Mediator” (attaching another,
easy-to-remove object to the object)
Concept 1. Since we can use the resource of the Roman
alphabet and of some other symbols, we obtain a concept that corresponds to our
previous solutions. Advantage: possibility to choose a vacant name.
Disadvantage: random character of modification.
2 - The principle “Skipping”.
Concept 2. Using not all the letters but every other
letter of a word. For instance, removing all the vowels only leaving “g n r t
r”. Advantage: a very simple and easy-to-remember regularity of modifying a
word. Disadvantage: there is a chance that a user does not notice this
regularity.
40 - The principle “Using composite materials”.
Concept 3. Making a homogeneous material (word)
inhomogeneous, for instance, by mixing it with numerals and punctuation marks.
Advantage: possibility to choose a vacant name. Disadvantage: it is not easy to
find an obvious regularity.
Concept 4. Transposing the letters in the word thus
creating an anagram from the name (rogenetar.com, nerogater.com, nerogaret.com
and other nonsense). Advantage: an amazed user will possibly remember this
address. Disadvantage: an amazed user will shrug his shoulders and will leave
for ever, the more especially as it is not easy to create a catchy anagram in
two languages.
39 - “Using inert medium” (changing the medium in which
the action takes place).
Concept 5. Finding a domain zone which is not less
popular than ***.com, but which has a vacant address for “generator”.
The concept is unrealizable because there is no such a zone.
It should be stated that the second concept satisfied us
fully, while the remaining three concepts were formulated for love of the game.
Solution: The site address is
formed from the consonants taken from the site name (GNRTR.COM).
As you have already understood, this solution proved to be suitable and the
domain name http://gnrtr.com
was successfully registered.
Supereffect: The solution to this problem suggests a
possible graphic move towards the creation of a logotype - the vowels are much
smaller than the consonants.
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